March 29, 1925 Black leaders in Charleston, West Virginia, protested the showing of D. W. Griffith’s movie, Birth of a Nation, scheduled to open at the Rialto Theatre on April 1. They said it violated a 1919 state law prohibiting any entertainment which demeaned another race. Mayor W.W. Wertz and the West Virginia Supreme Court supported their argument and prevented the showing of the film; efforts to ban the film met with mixed results around the country. Ku Klux Klan “justice” as portrayed in Birth of a Nation. The efforts to censor the film What made this movie (after a book called The Clansmen) exceptional in cinema history
March 29, 1971 U.S. Army Lieutenant William Calley was found guilty at a court martial for his part in the My Lai massacre which claimed the lives of hundreds of South Vietnamese civilians. Convicted for the premeditated murder of at least 22 Vietnamese civilians, he was sentenced to three years under house arrest. Resources and links about My Lai
March 29, 1973 The last American combat troops left South Vietnam, ending direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War. Military advisors to the South Vietnamese Army remained, as did Marines protecting U.S. installations, and thousands of Defense Department civilians.Of the more than 3 million Americans who served in the war, almost 58,000 had died, and more than 1,000 were missing in action. Some 150,000 Americans had been seriously wounded. The loss of Vietnamese killed and wounded was in the millions and damage to the countryside persists to this day. The 615th MP Company was inactivated in Vietnam on the last day of American military combat presence. Timeline on the war in Vietnam Learn about the persisting problem of Agent Orange
Collective action, even on the tiniest scale, is still pretty damn terrific Read on Substack
Many of you know the backstory here, but stick with me. It’s unremarkable on its face, but that’s how metaphors work.
For the last couple weeks, I’ve been the joyful recipient of a steady stream of pictures. They’re all of the same sticker, one that I designed and ordered and likely should have made bigger than I did (I’ve received feedback). The sticker says “Trump and Musk don’t care about you.” There are a couple QR codes— links to learn more and take action— but not much else. It was an extremely simple project, just one of thousands that have been launched across the country since Trump was inaugurated. It will, I’m sure, not bring down a government or prevent a deportation or stop a bomb from falling.
I adore these stickers. They are tiny, on more than one level, but that’s how all impactful things start. Designing them wasn’t hard, nor was tossing off a few messages asking others if they wanted one as well. I said, in essence, “hey you all, this is a thing that I’m doing” And then, when hundreds of people across the country indicated that they would, in fact, like a sticker, they added their voice to mine. “This is a thing I can do as well,” they said, a chorus of beating hearts and frayed nerves. They shouted their reply from tiny towns and large cities, from places where they struggled to find a location that wouldn’t just preach to the choir, as well as places where Trump is worshipped like a God.
They answered, and I felt less alone in hearing their reply.
And then, because this is how trust is built, we kept our promises to one another. I sent out the stickers and they put them up and snapped a picture and then… well, we’ll see. I have no proof whatsoever if the chain will continue, if a teenager playing baseball or a mom returning her cart at Target or a trucker taking a rest break after a long day on the road will see them and be reminded that they too can do something, but if we limited our political imagination to actions whose ripples we could foresee without a shadow of the doubt, we would do so very little.
I have made a number of challenges to myself since Trump’s inauguration. I have challenged myself to counter the false faith of isolation and inhumanity with one of connection and care. I have challenged myself to remember every day how in love I am, how grateful I am, how much I believe in the beautiful counterpoints we have already shouted and the even more beautiful world we will build.
I don’t think I’ve answered any of those challenges in profound ways, but I am trying. And since I am trying, if my heart beams every time I receive another picture of a sticker out in the world, then the least I can do is to share that feeling with you as well.
Do you want to see some of the stickers? I hope so, because if they are out there, that means that we are out there, even when it feels like we aren’t, even if we convince ourselves so frequently that being out there isn’t enough, even when we don’t yet understand why or how our being out there adds up to the world we want to live in together.
So, my friends, here are a few of them…
…on top of a carrot in Sacramento.
..preparing to play ball in a West Virginia County that gave 78% of its vote to Trump in November.
…remembering the Alamo.
…as well as another complicated American icon (in Iowa).
…welcoming visitors to a farm bureau in Illinois.
…and what I’m assured is a “surprisingly scenic” Costco parking lot in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.
… in bathrooms (in South Carolina and Phoenix).
…and on signs that, if you read them the right way, also feature messages of opposition (in Des Moines, Iowa and Springfield, Illinois).
…on campus (at Cornell and the University of Tennessee).
…and rivers (the Fox, in Wisconsin).
…and rails (in Chicago).
…and roads (in rural Florida).
As of this writing, there are hundreds of stickers, but millions of American places. A drop in the bucket if ever there was one. But there they are, proclaiming that we’re still here. Connected to each other. Shouting out, “I am doing something. We are doing something. We are here today and we will be here tomorrow.”
I love them, because I love us.
End notes:
I’m letting most of the siblinghood of stickering remain blessedly anonymous, but I hope you read this lovely reflection from Lyndsey Medford (esteemed stickerer of Costco parking lots and one hell of a writer to boot).
It isn’t just stickering, of course. I truly believe that my inbox is one of the most hope-giving spaces on the planet, because it’s full of people telling me about how damn amazing it felt going to one of those (massive) Bernie-AOC rallies or how their Tesla protest tripled in size week to week or how they never expected to find such a powerful political home when they moved to East Tennessee. You all, get a load of us! Trying! Building!
Yes, I have a few more stickers left (though please be patient, I’m away from home this week so will send them out when I get back).
And yes, I don’t just send stickers. I also run trainings (free and virtual!) on how to organize and build community in your part of the world, and next week I’ll be announcing dates and times for the next round so if you’re not on the interest list please get there. (snip-More)
March 27, 1867 Newly freed negroes after the American Civil War staged ride-ins on Charleston, South Carolina, streetcars. The railway company integrated later the same year. Similar efforts were made in Richmond, Virginia, and Mobile, Alabama.
March 27, 1966 20,000 Buddhists marched silently for peace in Hue, South Vietnam.
March 27, 1969 Alurista The first Chicano Youth Liberation Conference was held by the Crusade for Justice. The poet known as Alurista presented his poem, “Plan Espiritual De Aztlán,” on the concept of Aztlán, a unifying spiritual and geographic homeland of the Chicanos. He took the concept that the land belongs to those who work it from Mexican Revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. Aztlán is a name for the home of the Aztecs. Read more about Alurista
March 26, 1966 Over 50,000 marched peacefully in the Fifth Avenue Vietnam Peace Parade in New York City. They were part of the second International Days of Protest with marches in several cities in North America. Fifth Avenue anti-Vietnam War demonstration photo: Robert Parent Early efforts opposing the war in Vietnam
March 26, 1979 In a ceremony at the White House, Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed a peace agreement they had worked out with the assistance of President Jimmy Carter at Camp David, the U.S. president’s rural retreat. The agreement ended three decades of hostilities between Egypt and Israel, establishing diplomatic and commercial ties. The two countries have remained at peace for 40 years. Less than two years earlier, in an unprecedented move for an Arab leader, Sadat had traveled to Jerusalem to seek a permanent peace settlement with Egypt’s Jewish neighbor. Coverage by the BBC
March 26, 1986 The Oklahoma Supreme Court (Post v. State of Oklahoma) upheld a ruling that an Oklahoma anti-sodomy law could not be constitutionally applied to private, consensual activity.
March 26, 2003 Over one million students in Spain went on strike in opposition to their government’s support of the U.S./U.K. invasion of Iraq. The demonstration in Barcelona
March 25, 1965 Their numbers having swelled to 25,000, the Selma-to-Montgomery marchers arrived at the Alabama state capitol. “Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us. (Yes, sir) We are on the move now. The burning of our churches will not deter us. (Yes, sir) The bombing of our homes will not dissuade us. (Yes, sir) We are on the move now. (Yes, sir) The beating and killing of our clergymen and young people will not divert us. We are on the move now.” Read all of Rev. King’s speech Martin Luther King Jr. and wife Coretta lead march into Montgomery, Alabama.
March 25, 1965 Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a housewife and mother from Detroit, driving marchers back to Selma from Montgomery, was shot and killed by Klansmen in a passing car. She had driven down to Alabama to join the march after seeing on television the Bloody Sunday attacks at Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge earlier in the month. It was later learned that riding with the Klansmen was an FBI informant. read more about Viola Liuzzo Anthony & Viola Liuzzo
March 25, 1969 The newly wed John Lennon and Yoko Ono-Lennon began their seven-day “bed-in for peace” against the Vietnam War at the Amsterdam Hilton in New York City. read more about their bed-ins for peace bed-in photo album “Yoko and I are quite willing to be the world’s clowns, if by so doing it will do some good.”
March 24, 1616 William Leddra was executed by the Charter government of Massachusetts for being a Quaker. He was the fourth and last of his religion to be hanged with the approval of Governor John Endicott. Though the court did not find him “evil,” he had sympathized with the Quakers who were executed before him; he had refused to remove his hat, and he used the words “thee” and “thou,” which, to Quakers, implied the equality of all people. (Check out the way the link works for this. Much better than the terrible transcription I read the other day.-Newsletter author) Contemporaneous letter describing Leddra’s and other Quakers’ persecution (starts p.58) =========================================== March 24, 1918 Native-born Canadian women over 21 (except native, or First Nations, women) won the right to vote in federal elections, but not to run for office for yet another year. Suffrage was not granted to women in Quebec provincial elections until 1940. Read about Thérèse Casgrain =========================================== March 24, 1964 In a sit-down against nuclear weapons at Parliament Square in London, England, 1,172 were arrested. ============================================ March 24, 1965 The first Teach-In on the Vietnam War was held at the University of Michigan a month after President Lyndon Johnson ordered bombing of North Vietnam. The U-M teach-in was among the first of a new form of campus protest that was to spread nationwide, as a means of mobilizing students to examine policies of their government that they previously had taken for granted. About the 1st Teach-In view original leaflets Very few Americans had ever heard of the country in southeast Asia, and the event was intended to educate the participants in the history of Vietnam and foreign aggression there. Young protester in Chicago march, photo Jo Freeman ============================================= March 24, 1967 Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. led an anti-war march for the first time in Chicago, opposing the Vietnam War by saying: “Our arrogance can be our doom. It can bring the curtains down on our national drama . . . Ultimately, a great nation is a compassionate nation The bombs in Vietnam explode at home—they destroy the dream and possibility for a decent America . . . .” Reverend King addresses rally at the end of the Chicago march, photo: Jo Freeman ============================================== March 24, 1980 The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) was founded, electing as their first president Olga Madar, a vice president of the United Auto Workers. The convention adopted four goals: organize the unorganized; promote affirmative action; increase women’s participation in their unions; and increase women’s participation in political and legislative activities. CLUW history CLUW today ============================================= March 24, 1980 The archbishop of San Salvador, Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was assassinated while consecrating the Eucharist during mass. Monseñor Romero had become a well-known critic of violence and injustice and, as such, was perceived in the right-wing civilian and military circles of El Salvador as an enemy, and criticized by the Roman Catholic church. Romero had exhorted the police and soldiers to disobey orders to kill innocent people, refusing to be silenced. Worshippers had interrupted, with ovations, his homilies condemning the terrorism of the state. The ongoing legacy of Monsignor Romero (The Fransiscans have scrubbed him away. Here’s another place to read about him) ============================================== March 24, 1989 The most environmentally damaging oil spill to date began when the supertanker Exxon Valdez, owned and operated by the Exxon Corporation, ran aground on Bligh Reef in southern Alaska’s Prince William Sound. An estimated 11 million gallons of oil (257,000 barrels or 38,800 metric tons) eventually leaked into the water.Attempts to contain the massive spill were unsuccessful, and wind and currents spread the oil nearly 500 miles from its source, eventually polluting more than 1300 miles of coastline. Hundreds of thousands of birds and thousands of sea mammals were lost in the disaster. A dead murrelet, one of the hardest-hit sea birds in the Valdez spill. 25 years after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, read more
March 23, 1918 The trial of 101 Wobblies (members of the Industrial Workers of the World or IWW) began in Chicago, for opposition to World War I. In September 1917, 165 IWW members were arrested for conspiring to hinder the draft, encourage desertion, and intimidate others in connection with labor disputes. The trial lasted five months, the longest criminal trial in American history at the time.The jury found them all guilty. The judge sentenced IWW leader “Big Bill” Haywood and 14 others to 20 years in prison; 33 were given 10 years, the rest shorter sentences. They were fined a total of $2,500,000 and the IWW was shattered as a result. Haywood jumped bail and fled to the Soviet Union, where he remained until his death 10 years later. “Big Bill” Haywood Read more
March 23, 1942 The U.S. government began moving all those of Japanese ancestry, including some native-born U.S. citizens (known as nisei), from their west coast homes to indefinite imprisonment in detention centers, beginning with Manzanar in California which eventually held more than 10,000 Americans. Located on 60,000 acres west of Los Angeles, it is now a national historic site; only 3 of the original 800 buildings remain. Gallery of photos and other materials about Manzanar
March 23, 1961 Army Major Lawrence Robert Bailey was the first recorded American to be held as a prisoner of war in Southeast Asia. One of eight crew members of a C-47 surveillance aircraft shot down over Laos, Bailey was held by the Pathet Lao for 17 months, losing one-third of his body weight (down to 53 kg, or 117 lbs) during that time. The other occupants of the plane are presumed to have died in the crash; Bailey always wore a parachute.
March 23, 1984 USS Queenfish nuclear submarine student die-in outside the U.S. Consulate. One thousand boats, known informally as the Auckland Harbour Peace Squadron, demonstrated against arrival of the nuclear submarine, U.S.S. Queenfish in New Zealand.
March 22, 1933 The Nazi German concentration camp at Dachau was opened, the first of many such camps built for the incarceration and extermination of those considered unfit: Jews, Polish Catholics, Communists, the Roma (frequently referred to as Gypsies), the “work-shy,” homosexuals, the “hereditary asocial,” and those with mental and/or physical handicaps. The gate to Dachau “Work will make you free” Over 200,000 prisoners were registered at Dachau, nearly all of whom died there. The early days of Dachau
March 22, 1956 Civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., was convicted of organizing an allegedly illegal boycott by black passengers of buses in Montgomery, Alabama. He was fined $500 but when his lawyers indicated his intent to appeal, the sentence was changed to 386 days of imprisonment. Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
March 22, 1965 3,200 civil rights demonstrators, led by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and under protection of a federalized National Guard, began a third attempt at a week-long march from Selma, Alabama, to the state capitol at Montgomery in support of voting rights for black Americans. Marchers on their way to Montgomery A week before, the march had been violently stopped before leaving Selma. People from all over the country arrived to support the effort for enfranchisement of African Americans in the South whose right to vote had been systematically denied. From Selma to Montgomery: An Introduction to the 1965 Marches – Lesson Plan
March 22, 1974 The Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (ERA) was passed by both houses of Congress with two-thirds majorities. The amendment, to give women full equality under law, was ratified by the legislatures of only 35 states, short of the required three-quarters of the 50 states, and thus never became law. Detailed history of the Equal Rights Amendment
March 22, 1980 30,000 marched in Washington, DC against re-introduction of draft registration. Denise Levertov’s lines from her poem, “A Speech for Antidraft Rally, D.C., March 22, 1980″”…Let our different dream, and more than dream, our acts of constructive refusal generate struggle. And love. We must dare to win not wars, but a future in which to live.” The entire poem(pdf)
Happy Ostara and Spring Equinox! It started with snow this morning, which was a bummer, but you know – in like a lion and all that. I’m ready for the lamb!
Build your path with patience. Small steps are progress. XOXO
March 21, 1937 On Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter), the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico was to march in Ponce (city on the southern coast of the island) in support of Puerto Rican independence. They were also protesting the imprisonment of Albizu Campos, leader of the Party and the lawyer for the sugarcane workers who had led a general strike.The colonial military governor, Blanton Winship (a Georgian who had been Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army), revoked the parade permit at the last minute. Nationalists insisted on marching regardless and, surrounded by the well armed police, were fired upon as they began. Whoever fired the first shot, 18 Nationalists and 2 policemen died. 200 others, Nationalists and bystanders, were injured, 150 arrested. This incident is known as Masacre de Ponce, or “The Ponce Massacre.” Families of those who died in the Ponce Massacre A history of Puerto Rico The Ponce massacre remembered
March 21, 1960 South African police opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in the black township of Sharpeville near Johannesburg. The demonstrators were protesting the establishment of apartheid pass laws which restricted movement of non-whites. In Sharpeville itself, 69 were killed and 176 wounded when police fired on the crowd, 63 of them shot in the back. In the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre, protests broke out in Cape Town and elsewhere, and there were further casualties. Overall, 13,000 were jailed. The organizer, Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, head of the Pan-Africanist Congress, had written to the police commissioner, notifying him of the plans, and had said at a press conference, “I have appealed to the African people to make sure that this campaign is conducted in a spirit of absolute nonviolence, and I am quite certain they will heed my call.” The Sharpeville Massacre and its significance in South African history
March 21, 2003 The report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa was released. The commission was led by the Reverend Desmond Tutu, a bishop in the Anglican Church, the first black General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, and Nobel Peace Prize winner for his efforts to bring peace and justice to all South Africans. .Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu The Commission was charged with investigating and providing “as complete a picture as possible of the nature, causes and extent of gross violations of human rights” under the racial separatist apartheid regime from 1960 until the inauguration of Nelson Mandela in 1994, South Africa’s first black president. But the Commission sought to go beyond truth-finding to promote national unity and reconciliation, to facilitate the granting of amnesty to those who made full factual disclosure, to restore the human and civil dignity of victims by providing them an opportunity to tell their own stories, and to make recommendations to the president on measures to prevent future human rights violations. Reverand Tutu concluded in his foreword to the report, “Quite improbably, we as South Africans have become a beacon of hope to others locked in deadly conflict that peace, that a just resolution, is possible. If it could happen in South Africa, then it can certainly happen anywhere else. Such is the exquisite divine sense of humour.” The complete report of the Commission
March 21, 2008 More than 300 people participated in an annual Good Friday peace action at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, organized by Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment (CARES). The lab is a key participant in the design of all weapons in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The Alameda County Sheriff arrested 91 of the protesters. CARES Executive Director Marylia Kelley said, “The emphasis is on nonviolence and rejecting violence.” The organization behind the action
March 21, 2011 An estimated 14 million Egyptians voted in an essentially problem-free election. 77% voted to endorse a process that would bring elections for parliament within six months and a presidential election later.
Scottie's Playtime 